134 ^^^^ /.//% of the Spider 



attribute the heat expended upon action, 

 when the animal takes absolutely no nourish- 

 ment ? 



An idea suggests itself. We say to ourselves 

 that, without being life, a machine is something 

 more than matter, for man has added a little 

 of his mind to it. Now the iron beast, con- 

 suming its ration of coal, is really browsing the 

 ancient foliage of arborescent ferns in which 

 solar energy has accumulated. 



Beasts of flesh and blood act no otherwise. 

 Whether they mutually devour one another or 

 levy tribute on the plant, they invariably 

 quicken themselves with the stimulant of the 

 sun's heat, a heat stored in grass, fruit, seed 

 and those which feed on such. The sun, the 

 soul of the universe, is the supreme dispenser of 

 energy. 



Instead of being served up through the inter- 

 mediary of food and passing through the igno- 

 minious circuit of gastric chemistry, could not 

 this solar energy penetrate the animal directly 

 and charge it with activity, even as the 

 battery charges an accumulator with power ? 

 Why not live on sun, seeing that, after all, we 



