ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PLANETARY SYSTEM. 193 



whether these bodies, which everywhere swarm through 

 space, do not scatter germs of life wherever there is a 

 new world, which has become capable of giving a dwell- 

 ing-place to organic bodies ? And this life we might 

 perhaps consider as allied to ours in its primitive 

 germ, however different might be the form which it 

 would assume in adapting itself to its new dwelling- 

 place. 



However this may be, that which most arouses our 

 moral feelings at the thought of a future, though pos- 

 sibly very remote, cessation of all living creation on the 

 earth, is more particularly the question whether all this 

 life is not an aimless sport, which will ultimately fall a 

 prey to destruction by brute force ? Under the light of 

 Darwin's great thought we begin to see that not only 

 pleasure and joy, but also pain, struggle, and death, are 

 the powerful means by which nature has built up her 

 finer and more perfect forms of life. And we men 

 know more particularly that in our intelligence, our 

 civic order, and our morality we are living on the in- 

 heritance which our forefathers have gained for us, and 

 that which we acquire in the same way, will in like 

 manner ennoble the life of our posterity. Thus the 

 individual, who works for the ideal objects of humanity, 

 even if in a modest position, and in a limited sphere 

 of activity, may bear without fear the thought that the 

 thread of his own consciousness will one day break.. 



II. 



