452 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VIIL 
there is a continual tug of war between two opposing forces—the vital 
force or life principle versus the chemical or destructive principle, the one 
always in the effort to build up and maintain intact, the other just as 
industriously engaged in pulling down and disintegrating. From birth 
to maturity the vital foree dominates, in normal conditions. In mature 
life the forces are about equal. In old age the chemical prevails and 
finally overcomes in the unequal contest, and organized bodies we say die, 
but eventually ‘‘the great globe itself with all that it inherits will dissolve.” 
In fact life and death would seem to be the opposite poles or the to and 
fro swing of the pendulum, each motion or action begetting and mutually 
depending on the other. Hence, in the Scandinavian mythology the tree 
of life, Igdrasil, is rooted in death and draws its nourishment from decav. 
The ancient philosophers regarded the universe as an organism, desig- 
nating it the greater man, regarding man (vir) the lesser world, or the 
epitome of all created things, calling the greater the Macrocosm, and the 
lesser the microcosm. 
Let us look at this analogue for a moment. ‘These bodies of ours we 
are told are composed of millions of cells—or atoms—of which every 
member down to the ultimate tissue consists; when one of these small 
particles becomes worn out and has lost its vitality, it is removed out of the 
system by an absorbent and in its place is at once deposited a new particle 
fresh from the heart and lungs, and but recently prepared from food taken 
into the stomach. ‘Thus are our bodies maintained in working order until 
old age or accident destroys the erstwhile equilibrium and decay and death 
ensue. Now the history of one of these atoms in the human body is in 
epitome the history of a world. Every star in the blue vault had a birth, 
is passing through its life history, is approaching old age and final dissolu- 
tion. There may be seen, I believe, stars representing almost every phase 
of their exceeding prolonged existence, from the nebulous state to the 
exhausted dark bodies which are supposed to play an important part in 
the variations of the many variable stars known to exist. I may be 
allowed to enlarge the analogue and extend the parallel by substituting 
man homo for man vir and then say, when a man drops off, the race or 
man homo remains, and when a star is blotted out the stellar universe 
continues. Nature, always consistent with itself, has ordained in her 
varied kingdoms certain specific laws and regulations severally adapted 
to meet the requirements of each department, all working together as a 
unit. There is a general law, however, which it would seem is common to 
all celestial and terrestrial phenomena covering even our moral and 
spiritual natures. We can see its operation in the history of races, nations, 
civilizations, religions, politics, commerce, meteorology, ete., all of which 
