LIFE ON WORLDS — BERGET. 551 



Formed of cells composed of direct combinations of carbon, hydro- 

 gen, and nitrogen, they have in themselves a necessary analogy to 

 tlieii' constituent matter. 



The elements that constitute this matter are those of the traveling 

 germs, and the latter may fall either on one planet or another; there 

 must, therefore, also be some analog}^ between the beings living on 

 the planets of a solar system and those living on the earth, with still 

 more reason if they inliabit planets that revolve around the same 

 sun. And so the naivete seems childish that makes people conceive 

 of the ''Martians" as strange creatures possessing the unknown 

 functions of the animals of the earth. 



Another conclusion is also forced upon us: ''Life is an eternal 

 rebeginnmg" ; and this conclusion of Arrhenius in what concerns the 

 world of life is the same as that indicated by his theory of the uni- 

 verse, namely, that new celestial bodies are born from the collision of 

 two dark suns. It is the eternal cycle of which the "ring" is the 

 symbol . 



