iv WORLD- EARTH ATMOSPHERE 55 



been saying, adheres both to sky and earth. In 

 both it is inborn. Whatever is an inborn part of 

 anything else possesses unity, for without unity 

 nothing can be born. 



THE earth is at once part and material of the world, i 

 You are not, I think, more likely to ask why it is a 

 part than why the sky is a part. The one is just as 

 essential as the other to the existence of the whole, 

 which they go to make up, and from which [from 

 the one no less than from the other] 1 sustenance is 

 provided for all animals and crops and stars. From 2 

 the earth all the strength of every man, all the 

 energy of the world with its ceaseless demands, are 

 supplied. Hence proceeds the force that, by day 

 and by night, sustains in their labours so many stars, 

 so active and so eager, and that provides their food. 

 The universal nature derives from this source what 

 suffices for its nourishment. The world has appro 

 priated all that it requires throughout eternity. To 

 adopt a tiny illustration of a great subject : eggs 

 enclose within them as much moisture as they 

 require for the completion of the creature that is to 

 be hatched. 



VI 



THE atmosphere is in unbroken contact with the earth, 

 in such close juxtaposition that it must always occupy 

 the space that she has just quitted. It is a part, as 

 I have said, of the universe. At the same time it 



1 The words in brackets are in all probability spurious, the addition of 

 some commentator. The whole passage is very uncertain. 



