340 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the hydrogen and oxygen of which it is composed. The number of 

 these chemical compounds built into living tissues is very great, a 

 number uncounted. It is of these compound substances of their 

 molecules that the cells are builded ; builded by an action very un- 

 like chemical action and into shapes very unlike chemical results. 

 Also, it is by the consumption of these compounds of the fourteen 

 elements that animal warmth and activity are sustained. But, not 

 turning aside here to question the chemistry (the making of molecules) 

 going on in cells, or the vital organization (the building together of 

 molecules) going on in cells, not once lifting our eyes toward any of 

 the dynamical sources of life, we bend our attention to find out, if we 

 can, the raw material for cells, the inorganic resources of the organic 

 world. 



It is the organic world together, to be sure, that is able to subsist 

 on the fourteen elements as these are given by the earth, the animal 

 kingdom obtaining most of its material at second hand, as elaborated 

 by the vegetable. The two kingdoms are, in the end, mutually de- 

 pendent on each other in gaining siistenance from the earth's supplies. 



The fourteen indispensable simples may be classified, in different 

 ways for different ends. There is a privilege of provisional classifica- 

 tion, for the sake of comparison and of acquaintance ; and, with the 

 promise not to impose our arrangement upon any other occasion, we 

 would like, for the purposes of our present quest, to divide the ele- 

 mental resources of life into two categories, as follows : 1. Those svp- 

 pliecl so abundantly on the earth that all individuals share them alike, 

 without favor of fortune or forethought of mind. We may name them 

 redundant resources. 2. Those provided so sjKiringly that individuals 

 do not share them alike, but secure them by effort and by opportunity. 

 They may be termed adequate resources. 



From the provision of the first class of materials, it results that, in 

 cei'tain great essentials of organization, all individuals are placed on 

 a footing of equality with their fellows. It results from the provision 

 of the second class of materials, that unequal qualities and quantities 

 of organization are derived by different individuals of the same spe- 

 cies. Through our redundant resources we are taught the common 

 brotherhood of tlie created. Through our adequate resources come 

 the assurances of our responsibility our commissions as stewards of 

 the earth. Materials given in a superabundance that cannot be wasted 

 constitute a dispensation of mercy; its benefits falling alike on the 

 just and on the unjust, the lazy and the diligent, the foolish and the 

 prudent. Materials given in a competence that must be guarded con- 

 stitute a dispensation of compensation ; inciting to exertion, reward- 

 ing for attainment, and training the powers of volition. By the first, 

 the democracy of equal privileges and inalienable possessions is main- 

 tained ; by the second, the aristocracy of merit is preserved. 



The redundant resources so abound that they can have no value, 



