FROM ROCK TO BRAIN CELL. 163 



grains of inorganic matter form the rock; mi- 

 croscopic cells of living tissue the giant oak; 

 seconds of time that eternity of which we in- 

 herit an infinitesimal part. 



The tissues which form our bodies are far 

 softer, more fragile, shorter lived than those of 

 either rock or tree, yet those tissues are com- 

 posed of atoms of the same elements as they. 

 From the rock, aided by lichens and moss, 

 comes the soil to carpet the earth and furnish 

 matter in digestible form for the growth of 

 plant. The latter provides all protoplasm, 

 stores all energy which we, the highest, as well 

 as the amoeba, the lowest, of animal life do use. 

 It is a long, long stretch, with many a diver- 

 sion, back, back through the eternity of time 

 from the gray matter in my cerebral cells 

 through the tissues of the plant to the gray mat- 

 ter in this primordial rock, or that of another 

 of its kind, yet the way has been traveled and 

 from the one has, in the past, the other been de- 

 rived. Then, possess thyself in patience, O my 

 soul! 



The warble of the red-eyed vireo, ceaseless, 



