THE DIFFERENCES OF THINGS. 53 



THE DIFFEKENCES OF THINGS. 



Br JOHN W. SAXON. 



COULD a man do himself up into a mathematical point and throw 

 himself into the middle of infinite empty space, wherever that 

 is, he would be surprised at the flatness of life under such circum- 

 stances. Infinite empty space is absolute sameness. It is, so fur as I 

 have traveled the field of mental possibilities, the only specimen of 

 the thinkable or the unthinkable of which we can say, " It is all 

 alike." 



Should we melt up the matter which is supposed to be scattered 

 throughout infinite space, and then, by increased heat, turn it into 

 gas, and expand it till all the systems of the universe became one 

 infinitely-extended and equally-distributed universe of intermingled 

 gases, we should have about as little variety as in the case of empty 

 space. 



Having unshackled the universe, and brought chaos back again, 

 having secured a condition somewhat like that in which the advocates 

 of the nebular theory suppose it to have been, consider what a dull 

 time we should have if we were unable to find some little nook outside 

 of infinite space, and, as a result, be obliged to amuse ourselves with 

 such monotonous surroundings ! It would be as wearisome as star- 

 ing day after day at a blank wall without so much as a rain-streak 

 on it. 



But Nature seems to have understood that variety is not only 

 " the spice of life," but life itself; and no sooner does she get in hand 

 her raw material, than she sets herself to the work of creating differ- 

 ences. True, some astronomers reject the nebular theory; but, if not 

 true, it will serve as an illustration. It seems to have been the great 

 work of Nature to multiply differences. For instance, there was a 

 time or an eternity in which Nature turned out her first owl, just as 

 the first patent Yankee washing-machine must have had its day. But 

 the inventors of the owl and of the washing-machine have gone on dif- 

 ferentiating with unlike results. Most of the washing-machines are 

 at rest. The fittest even scarcely survives. The owls are hooting still 

 in varieties uncounted, and if, here and there, a specimen, discouraged 

 and disgusted with the "modern improvements" of the Cainozoic 

 period, gave up the ghost, and laid himself away with the old saurians 

 his Darwinian ancestors he now finds himself resurrected, his 

 bones neatly wired togelher, and the human owls hooting over him 

 still. Like the immortal Webster, he "still lives" as a witness of 

 Nature's wonderful resources as a differentiator a difference-maker. 



But let us look further into Nature's method of creating varieties. 

 Shortly after the beginning of eternity, Nature began to put the uni- 



