THE RELATIONS OF ENVIRONMENT TO LIFE 77 



solitudes and in the silent regions of Nature, man 

 goes along the noisy highway, bent on new achieve 

 ments. 



The secrets of Nature are being incessantly trans 

 ferred to the records of science. Nevertheless, the 

 more we know, the more impressive becomes the 

 region of the unknown. When the origin of the in 

 dividual life has been discovered in the germ-cell, it 

 is through recesses of the unknown that there comes 

 at length the familiar form. Concentration on lower 

 phases of life, has largely expanded our conceptions 

 of the whole system of life. To the scientific spirit, 

 the unknown must ever have an alluring power. 

 Without sense of this, the true value of our inheritance 

 of knowledge cannot be estimated. The known has 

 its attraction, only as it stands over against the un 

 known the sealed treasury of a future inheritance. 



Hence negative positions help to our understanding 

 of positive. The restrictions of environment show 

 the potency of living growth. Life s power of adapta 

 tion to external demands, becomes increasingly sur 

 prising, as the researches of natural history are con 

 tinued. The quiet life, long since vanished from its 

 place in the earth, has left its testimony in the face of 

 the living. Rational intelligence can read it there, as 

 plainly as it reads the printed page. Life s power of 

 adaptation now stands an accepted truth, ever coming 

 out more clearly to view, as we see life itself in relation 

 to the background which Nature supplies. As action 

 and reaction advance, a higher life appears ; and with 

 this, much of life itself is thrown into the background 

 of environment, providing for life s need. Organic 

 advance carries larger variety into the orders of life. 



