SCIENCE AND ART 175 



flux. "The rain falls; the springs are fed; the 

 streams are filled and flow to the sea; the mist 

 rises from the deep and the clouds are formed, 

 which break again on the mountain side. The 

 plant captures air, water, and salts, and, with 

 the sun's aid, builds them up by vital alchemy 

 into the bread of life, incorporating this into 

 itself. The animal eats the plant; and a new in- 

 carnation begins. All flesh is grass. The animal 

 becomes part of another animal, and the reincar- 

 nation continues." Finally, if we can use such 

 a word, the silver cord of the bundle of life is 

 loosed, and earth returns to earth. The microbes 

 of decay break down the dead, and there is a 

 return to air and water and salts. All things 

 flow. It may be that the old naturalists had not 

 such a vivid conception of the circulation of mat- 

 ter as we have to-day, but the essential idea is 

 certainly ancient. 



Perhaps we have said enough to illustrate this 

 part of our simple argument (which we have 

 developed further in The Bible of Nature, 1908) 

 that there are certain inevitable and fundamental 

 impressions borne in on man by Nature which 

 have meant much to man throughout the ages, 

 which are strengthened, not weakened, by modern 

 science. They have not changed in their essen- 

 tial character since ancient days, but they have 

 become deeper and more subtle the impressions 



