THE TEEMING LIFE OF THE WATERS 



thus contrasted, appears imposing beyond all pro- 

 portion. The space it occupies extends over more 

 than two-thirds, almost three-quarters, of the total 

 surface of the globe. It goes down much lower than 

 the flying population of the air goes up. Regarded 

 as a mass it is infinitely greater than the latter, even 

 if we include the creatures that have settled upon the 

 earth. In it, everything is in contact and in relation, 

 the lowest and least with the immense. The water, 

 fluid, adaptable, but coherent, surrounds it and supports 

 it without ceasing. 



Among these creatures we do not find the precise 

 shapes we see around us on land, movements con- 

 trolled by gravity, flashes of action limited in scope 

 and quickly checked. In them movement is easier, 

 while action is more sustained and kept up for longer 

 periods. Thanks to its density, which is not very 

 different from that of living bodies, the water actually 

 favours the vital processes. Paying no heed to differ- 

 ences in form, structure, size, in other words to dis- 

 proportion of every sort, it lessens their effects, and 

 produces a certain measure of uniformity. It confers 

 a kind of homogeneity upon everything which its 

 mass contains, thus reconciling what appears to be 

 irreconcilable. Within it the vital actions, of whatever 

 nature, acquire a degree of co-ordination. In it every- 

 thing is intermingled; strife is everywhere, but so is 

 mutual assistance. There is a universal law to which 

 everything is subject in spite of its extension in space. 

 This world of waters, in the cohesion of its fragments, 

 bears within itself the greatest sum of life upon the 

 globe. 



Here again, there is something significant in the 

 fancy of the Ancients. Prometheus, fastened to his 

 rock, is punished because he has stolen fire from 

 heaven and tried to discover the truth of things. 

 Chained, lamenting his melancholy fate, he bewails 

 the fact that he was ever born and is in despair about 



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