86 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



circling course; clearing the pathways of light for 

 future generations. 



Out of the nebular pull and thrust, and meteoric 

 collision came the germs of celestial spheres and a 

 measure of celestial order. In the wide womb of the 

 cosmic night commingling, nebular gamites the germ 

 plasma of the sun and her family of planets engendered. 



From the sun, the earth its substance inherited, and 

 received in her household its nurture. In communion 

 with its mother sun, and with its twin sister, moon, the 

 fcetal earth acquired its form, its features, and its mo- 

 tions ; was cradled in its orbit, bathed by the recurrent 

 light of day, disciplined and caressed by the changing 

 seasons, till the initial cleavage of its growing substance 

 divided the assembling airs, the lands, and the waters, 

 into serried layers and graded masses, according to 

 their attributes. 



Thereby was built for life a home terrestrial, and 

 stable. And there in rightly tempered beds, in nutrient 

 nooks and sheltering crannies, quickening plasmas 

 grew, and multiplied, and overflowed, tincturing the 

 shallow seas with their opalescent swarms, and spread- 

 ing their verdant flush over the face of the rising earth ; 

 and there life was nourished and sustained by the in- 

 come from a brotherhood of stars. 



The flesh of the earth, the flash, and the pull, and 

 the grip of the sun, the moon, and the stars, is the 

 steadfast substance of life and its unfailing power. 



II. The Cosmic Formula for Life 



As the germ-plasma of the egg, subject to its en- 

 vironments, determines the nature of its ensuing life, 



