WHITEFISH OF THE LAKE OF GENEVA 



On the other hand, the waters show us more forcibly, 

 in a simple and elemental way, that the world of 

 the living, taken as a whole, is a vast place of nutritive 

 exchanges, in which the brutality of shock and encounter 

 is still tempered by the necessity of bringing their 

 results into general equilibrium, so that everything 

 may be duly conserved. 



The living world is maintained at the expense of 

 the mineral world. When the life of individuals comes 

 to an end, the matter of which they are formed de- 

 composes, breaks up into its original elements, returns 

 to, and becomes a part of, the inert, inorganic environ- 

 ment. So, to make up for this, life must keep taking 

 from that environment the same elements which it 

 ultimately returns to form the substance of those 

 beings which go on living. This is the beginning 

 of the general cycle of alimentation. This analytical 

 process of dissociation postulates a corresponding 

 process of synthetic reconstruction, in which the 

 primary elements are gathered to form the flesh, and 

 to maintain it by feeding. Animals are incapable of 

 such a synthesis because, in their nutrition, they must 

 employ flesh which has already been formed, and 

 groupings of elements which have already been made. 

 Consequently, the vegetable kingdom has had to take 

 on this work of recomposition. Without it, without 

 this re-forming reaction, brought about under the 

 impulsion of solar energy, the animal kingdom could 

 not subsist, herbivorous creatures could not browse, 

 and carnivorous animals would not be able to feed. 

 This is a general condition, which makes even more 

 clear the contrast between the world of the waters and 

 the world of the atmosphere. 



In the latter, the preliminary, essential synthesis is 

 carried out by the many vegetables, of all kinds and 

 sizes, which cover the surface of the earth, and make 

 it a pleasant place to live in. The herbivorous animals 

 eat the grass of the prairies and meadows, and browse 

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