FROM DUST TO DUST. 61 



Aristotle said, " We must not accept a general principle from 

 logic only, but must prove its application to each fact, [for it is in 

 facts we must seek general principles, and these must always accord 

 with facts." "Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." 



It seems to me, however, that micro-organisms are the great 



factors of change in the economy of Nature ; commencing their 



work in the inorganic world, carrying it through the organic world, 



and back again to the inorganic, where their task is recommenced, 



and cycle rolls on cycle "down the ringing grooves of change." 



These wonder-working micro-organisms, which render such 

 subtle service in the unseen world around us, would be well com- 

 pared to the Erdgeist, or Earth-spirit, in " Faust," who called 

 Nature " the living, visible garment of God."'" 



" In Being's floods, in Action's storm, 

 I walk and work, above, beneath. 

 Work and weave in endless motion ! 

 Birth and Death, 

 An infinite ocean ; 

 A seizing and giving 

 The fire of Living. 

 'Tis thus at the roaring Loom of Time I ply, 

 And weave for God the garment thou seest Him by." 



Thus may we all work and weave 



^ " Ad majorem gloriam Dei." 



In a collection made by Captain W. G. Thorold in Thibet of 

 plants growing at elevations between 15,000 and 19,000 feet, 

 fifty-seven, or one-half, were found between 17,000 and 18,000 

 feet, five between 18,000 and 19,000 feet, and one, Sansiirea 

 tridactyla, at 19,000 feet. A large majority of the plants hardly 

 lift themselves above the surface, the characteristic type being a 

 rosette of small leaves closely appressed to the ground with a 

 central sessile inflorescence. Judging from the fact that many of 

 the species are found in the most widely separated parts of the 

 country, there must be very few local species ; and the circum- 

 stances indicate that the distribution marks the remains of a pro- 

 bably much richer flora. 



* Carlyle, Sartor Resartus. 



