Masterpieces of Science 

 i 



to proof in unexpected fashion that the first act 

 in the cosmical drama, like the last, conforms to 

 the law of derivation, that the universe exhibits 

 in its totality the same rule of descent with 

 modification which the naturalist observes in the 

 moth, or the botanist in the field of wheat. The 

 latest nebular photographs display a continuous 

 series of gradations from the most attenuated 

 wisps of matter to stellar spheres which bear 

 evidence of having been newly ushered into life. 

 "In a forest," said a great astronomer, Sir 

 William Herschel, "we see around us trees in 

 every stage of their life-history. There are the 

 seedlings just bursting from the acorn, the sturdy 

 oaks in their full vigour, those also that are old 

 and near decay and the prostrate trunks of the 

 dead." Much the same succession in the stages 

 of cosmic life are disclosed by the camera, and 

 Evolution stands forth confirmed as true not 

 only of every branch of the tree of life, but of 

 nature as the sum of all things. 



Nearly three hundred years ago George Her- 

 bert could say 



" Nothing hath got so far 

 But man hath caught and kept it as his prey 



His eyes dismount the highest star. 



He is in little all the sphere. 

 Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because that they 



Find their acquaintance there." 



At the close of the nineteenth century his 



insight receives confirmation on every hand. 



"We learn with wonder that the scope of life on 



land and sea, the architecture of the forest, the 



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