16 THE NEW KNOWLEDGE. 



atoms are far away ; some of them are in the fever germs 

 that broke up the dance, others are " the green hair of 

 the grave," and others are blown about the antipodes 

 on the winds of ocean. The mutabilities of things, and 

 likewise the tears of things: for one thing after another, 



"Like snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 

 Lighting a little hour or two is gone/ ; 



and the eternal, ever-changing dance goes on. 



Now, whether we call the atoms God's little servants or 

 the Devil's agents, one thing is sure that every action 

 of every thing, living or dead, within this bourne of time 

 and space, is the action of one swarm of atoms on another, 

 for without them there is but empty void. 



Consequently, whether we consider the atoms as the 

 starting-place in our search for the One Thing, or whether 

 we think of them only as the foundation of all physical 

 action and being, they are the most important things in 

 the world to us, for they are us, physically at least, and 

 any knowledge concerning them or any relation between 

 them has, therefore, to us poor people they condition, ar 

 interest that is tragic. 



