THE LIFE IN THE SEA. 15 
gradually grows weak with age, and in time dies out. Then 
physical and chemical laws come into action and destroy the 
organisation it built up. But the elements which composed the 
body are soon employed again and used in another organisation. 
So each plant and animal is allied with the past, and blends with 
the future; for every generation which springs up is but the 
corollary of that which has expired and the prelude of that which 
iscoming. Life is the vestibule of death, and death the replenisher 
of life. ; 
Life did not appear on the globe immediately it was created : 
it was produced ata later epoch, after the formation of inanimate 
nature. For the reception of life a soil fit for its exercise must 
have been prepared, and certain physical and chemical conditions 
established. Neither did the appearance and distribution of living 
beings take place by chance ; but the dictates of rigorous laws were 
obeyed. 
The knowledge of fossil remains has thrown much light upon 
the regular and progressive development of life. The appearance 
of living creatures began with the most elementary forms. The 
most ancient beds of rock afford no signs of life. Traces of organic 
bodies exist only in comparatively recent formations. Vegetable 
life appears first in various forms of the lowest orders; then the 
earliest animal remains are those most nearly allied to the vege- 
table kingdom, and which consequently possess the least perfect 
organisms. Thus life, at first simple, gradually became more 
and more complicated, until man, the masterpiece of creation, 
was called into existence. 
If, in the spring-time, some pure water be exposed to the light 
and air, a yellowish-green mistiness will soon cloud it. Examined 
by the microscope this cloudiness is found to be millions of vege- 
table organisms. Presently animalcules are seen swimming in this 
living cloud and being nourished by its substance; then others are 
formed, which pursue and devour the first. Thus we find life 
transforms inanimate matter into organised bodies; first vege- 
tables, then herbivorous animals, and lastly carnivorous animals. 
Life sustains life: the death of one affording material for the growth 
of another. So all are linked together, all aid each other. In 
the organic world there is the same interchange of matter as in the 
