THE LIFE OF MATTER. 395 



liuniiiiiity. It rocalLs the time when men conceived external thin^-s 

 only in terms of themselves, when they made from each object of 

 nature a li\-ino- Ix'ino-. Thus they personitied the sky, tlie earth, the 

 sea, the mountain, the rivers, the fountains, and t\m tields. They 

 likened to animate voices the murnmr of the forest: 



* * * The <.ak cliidcs and tlic birch 



Is \vhis|)erin<,''. * * * 



AikI the heec'li inuriiuirs. There ;vn> voices low 



Lost in the willow's shiver, slight, half-heard: 



AVhile the lone pine tree moans some mystic word. 



For primitive man, as for th(» poet of all times, ever^'thino- is alive, 

 and every voice, every noise, is th(^ expression of the activity of a 

 living being- who has feelings similar to our own. The sighing of the 

 breeze, th(^ moan of the wave upon the strand, the l)abbling of the 

 brook, the roaring of the sea. and the pealing of the thunder are 

 nothing loss than sad, joyous, or angry, living voices. 



These imj^ressions were eml)odied in a mythology whose ])l<'asing 

 features can not conceal its iniukxjuacy. Then they passed into phi- 

 losophy and approached the field of science. Thales believed that all 

 bodies in nature were animate and living. Origen considered all the 

 stars as actual l)eings. Even Kepler himself endowed with animate 

 life all the l)odies of i\ature. He especially attributed to the celestial 

 bodies an interior principle of action, which, it may ]>e said in passing, 

 is contrary to the law of the inei'tia of matter, which has wrongly been 

 ascril)ed to him to the detriment of Galileo. The terrestrial globe 

 was, according to him, a great animal, sensitive to astral infbiences, 

 frightened at the ap]n-oach of other planets, and manifesting its terror 

 by tempests, hurricanes, and earthquakes. The wonderful tlux and 

 reflux of the ocean was its breathing. The earth had its blood, its 

 perspiration, its excretions; it also had its foods, among which was 

 the sea water which it absorbed b}' jiumei'ous channels. It should be 

 said that at the end of his life Kepler retracted these vague dreams, 

 ascribing them to the influence of J. C Scaliger. He explained that 

 by the soul of the celestial bodies he meant nothing but their motive 

 force. 



2. OPINION OF THE I'Hir.OSOl'FIERS. 



Transition f pom hrufe f<> lirhuj JxxHrs. — The lowering of tne barrier 

 between ])rute bodies and living ))()dies began with those philosophers 

 who introduced into the world the gr(»at princii)les of contimiity and 

 evolution. 



Thejyritic/jjic ofcoiUiimUij. — Among these Leibnitz should l)e ])laced 

 first. According to the doctrine of that illustrious philosopher, as 

 interpreted by M. Fouillee, ''there is no inorganic kingdom; onlj^i 

 great organic kingdom, of which mineral, vegetalde, and animal forms 

 are the various developments. * " "" Continuity exists everywhere 



