LIGHT AND LIFE. 



THE organized being that we observe on the surface of 

 the globe does not subsist solely by the nourishment ab- 

 sorbed, sometimes in the form of aliment, sometimes in that 

 of atmospheric air ; it needs, besides, heat, electricity, and 

 light, which are like a secret and life-giving spring for the 

 world. Its organs are subject to the twofold influence of 

 an inner medium, represented by the humors moistening its 

 tissues, and of an outer medium, composed of all those sub- 

 tile and fluid agents with which space is filled. This close 

 interdependence of beings and of the media in which they 

 are immersed, too plain to have quite escaped notice, yet 

 too complex for analysis by science in its infancy, has been 

 brought in our day under piercing and methodical investi- 

 gation, yielding results of remarkable interest. Light es- 

 pecially takes a part in this combination deserving deep 

 study. Whether organic existence in its simplest expres- 

 sion and its lowest degree be considered, or whether we re- 

 gard it in its highest functions, the influence of light upon 

 it strikes us in the most strange and unlooked-for relations. 

 Lovely forms and vivid colors, the hidden harmonies of life 

 as well as its dazzling brightness and bloom, alike claim 

 mysterious connection with that golden mist diffused by 

 the sun over the world. 



From this point of view, modern science finds reason in 

 the simple worship paid by primitive man. It helps us to 

 understand the divine honors given to the star of day 



