THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE 187 



devoured me. After a time my new host was also slain in a similar 

 manner, and his body, decaying in the rank grass and vegetation of 

 the swamp, I was ultimately washed out to sea in a sudden flood, 

 which, coming down from the hills, swept me away. Here I 

 mingled with the mud at the bottom of the sea, and stayed there for 

 millions of years, and became covered over with mighty layers of 

 mud and sand, and sank ever deeper and deeper into the earth, and 

 at last once more felt the glow of the nether fires. Here in the great 

 gleaming-furnaces of the deep I remained for many millions of years, 

 while miles above me the world changed and developed, mountains 

 came and went, new and strange creatures evolved, developed, 

 filled all the earth, and died out again. One day, I was hurled forth 

 amidst vast thunderings through the throat of a great volcano, and 

 formed part of a molten lava stream, which in time became a fertile 

 field covered with waving crops and golden grain. Then I entered 

 into a grain of corn, and was devoured by a man living thousands of 

 years ago, a mere savage you would term him, wild and fierce. From 

 him I passed to earth once more, and since then have been passing 

 in a ceaseless round of change through the bodies of living creatures. 

 I have flown through the air in a bird, I have swum in the sea in a 

 fish, I have roamed over the earth in a beast, I have formed part of 

 innumerable plants. But the full tale would only weary you, 

 wonderful as it is. One day, a few years ago, I was devoured by an 

 ox while forming part of a piece of grass, and soon by the mysterious 

 chemical forces of its body I was made to form part of its bone. 

 The great beast was slaughtered by men, and his flesh eaten, and 

 his bones burnt to a fine white dust in a furnace. Out of this dust, 

 I, the tiny phosphorus atom, was distilled in a furnace and found 

 my way to a match factory, and am now in this little match-box 

 lying in the table before you. Is my journey finished? Oh dear no, 

 far from it. I shall go on changing and journeying and dancing, 

 age after age, even until the wwld fades away like a mist, and long 

 after all that you see and hear around you has crumbled away and 

 vanished into the awful maw r of time. I have been taking part in 

 the great dance of atoms which forms the basis of all passing things 

 and events, for millions upon millions of years, and shall continue 

 to do so for millions and millions of years to come. I may, indeed, 

 see this world perish, and may yet dance in worlds as yet unborn. 

 My future will be probably even more strange than my past." 



REFERENCES. 



Kossowicz, Alex.: " Agrikulturmykologie, I Bodenbakteriologie." 

 Lafar, Franz: "Handbuch der Technischen Mykologie," Dritter Band. 



