UNIVERSAL LIFE. 24I 



babbling of the brook, the roaring of the sea, and the 

 pealing of the thunder are nothing less than sad, 

 joyous, or angry living voices. 



These impressions were embodied in ancient 

 mythology, the graceful beauty of which does not 

 conceal its inadequacy. Then they passed into 

 philosophy and approached the realm of science. 

 Thales believed that all bodies in nature were 

 animate and living. Origen considered the stars as 

 actual beings. Even Kepler hin>self attributed to the 

 celestial bodies an internal principle of action, which, 

 it may be said in passing, is contrary to the law of 

 the inertia of matter, which has been wrongly ascribed 

 to him instead of to Galileo, The terrestrial globe 

 was, according to him, a huge animal, sensitive to 

 astral influences, frightened at the approach of the 

 other planets, and manifesting its terror by tempests, 

 hurricanes, and earthquakes. The wonderful flux and 

 reflux of the ocean was its breathing. The earth had 

 its blood, its perspiration, its excretions; it also had 

 its foods, among which was the sea water which it 

 absorbs by numerous channels. It is only fair to add 

 that at the end of his life Kepler retracted these vague 

 dreams, ascribing them to the influence of J. C. 

 Scaliger. He explained that by the soul of the 

 celestial bodies he meant nothing more than their 

 motive force. 



§ 2. Opinion of the Philosophers. 



Transition from Brute to Living Bodies. — The 

 lowering of the barrier between brute bodies and 

 living bodies began with those philosophers who 



