214 THE NEW KNOWLEDGE. 



The constituents of sea-water are : 



Chloride of sodium 77.75 



" " magnesium .... 10.87 



Sulphate of magnesium .... 4.73 



"calcium 3.60 



" " potassium .... 2.46 



Bromide of magnesium .... 0.21 



Carbonate of calcium . . . .0.34 



The main constituents of the air are nitrogen, oxygen and 

 carbonic acid. 



The elements constituting sea-water and air are thus : 



Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, sodium, magnesium, 

 potassium, calcium, chlorine, sulphur and bromine. 



Let us now examine the constituents of the living being. 

 We find on an ultimate analysis that they comprise: Oxy- 

 gen, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, sodium, potassium, phos- 

 phorus, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, iron and silicon. We 

 see, thus, as a matter of fact, that the elements constitut- 

 ing living beings are almost exclusively the elements con- 

 tained in sea-water and air. And not only so, for the ele- 

 ments constituting sea-water and air are the first elements 

 created in the process of inorganic evolution. This is easily 

 determined by an examination of the stellar temperature 

 table, page 209. This table shows us that the hydrogen, 

 oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, magnesium, iron, so- 

 dium and silicon that constitute sea-water and the substances 

 of our own bodies are the first born elements of the hottest 

 stars. More and more do we see that we are the last re- 

 sult of a series of consecutive changes running back without 

 any sudden break in continuity to a time when the stars 

 were young. Organic evolution is the last stage in inor- 

 ganic evolution and we are akin to the stars. It is inter- 



