HORIZON LINES 



their down-seed balloons or parachutes at once. 

 In the Far North the willow and birch are mere 

 running vines, but they achieve fruit. 



The economy of living nature is the basis of our 

 economy; we improve upon it, we take a short cut, 

 we save time and save power. We trim our trees, we 

 remove obstructions, we fertilize, we graft, we sow 

 and plant. Nature is prodigal of her spawn and 

 pollen to offset the element of chance that enters 

 into the action of the winds and the waves. 



The wild creatures have their instinctive econo- 

 mies and ways of getting on in the world. They pre- 

 pare for the winter; they provide for their young; 

 they practice the arts of concealment; they are wise 

 for their own good; they do not commit suicide. 

 The plants have their economies, and the insects 

 have theirs, but when we talk of the economy of 

 Nature, we are beyond soundings. Nature cannot 

 spend more than she earns; her ledgers always bal- 

 ance; her capital cannot be impaired. There is no 

 waste, in our sense, in the universe. Can you de- 

 stroy magnetism by pulverizing the magnet? Would 

 electricity be quenched if no storm-cloud ever again 

 appeared in the sky? 



XIV. THE PERSISTENCE OP ENERGY 



Is it not reassuring to know that we cannot get out 

 of the universe — that whatever is real about us 

 cannot be destroyed, but can only suffer change? 



245 



