82 Natural Salvation. 



Biological science, it is true, is still in its infancy, but it 

 is a very hopeful infancy ; and it is the opinion of many of 

 its best exponents that within another quarter of a cen- 

 tury we shall have penetrated the secret of cell nutrition 

 and growth, and opened the way to a scientific renovation 

 of the tissues. 



But faith has to be engendered as well as discoveries 

 made. Enlightened man, indeed, is but just awakening 

 to the idea that he may possibly escape death by setting 

 his wits to work to this end ; and, as ever, there is the 

 olden outcry of impiety raised against the conception, as 

 if it were wrong to try to live ! As if it were not natural 

 to live on ! 



But greatly prolonged life implies an amelioration of 

 all the conditions of the terrestrial habitat, and within 

 fifty years well-nigh complete control of the aerial currents 

 and rainfall might be attained, if only a modicum of the 

 intellect of the race could be concentrated upon these 

 problems. This achievement will go far to bring about 

 that physical paradisation of the earth, needful to redeem 

 it from the imputation which it has so long endured, of 

 being " a dreary bourne " and a place of exile to homesick 

 souls who long to flee away to some better land. The 

 earth will yet be made one of " the garden spots " of the 

 universe. It is a purely physical problem, and not a little 

 of the data for its solution is already in our hands. Fore- 

 telling the weather is the first step to controlling the 



