

CHAPTER 11. 



PAN A SYMBOL OF THE UNIVERSE, 



"The true recognition of the organism of Nature and its composi- 

 tion of members or links, as objective facts expressed by Nature 

 itself, is essentially necessary to the higher shaping of Natural His- 

 tory as a unit." 



THE atomic theory of Leucippus, elaborated by Democri- 

 tus twenty-three hundred years ago, and its connection with 

 modern science, or the theories of atoms or scientific minima, 

 which now prevail, do not demand a critical or minute analy- 

 sis here. As it is impossible for the rational intelligence to 

 conceive of an accident, the apparent coincidence of the doc- 

 trine of antiquity that "bodies are made of ultimate atoms, 

 and that in the character of these atoms must be sought the 

 explanation of the qualities of what we call body," with the 

 present announcement of the microscope, that "no organism 

 has been created of larger size than an infusorial point;" and 

 that "no organism is, nor has one ever been created, which is 

 not microscopic;" and that the "organism of nature and its 

 composition, of members or links, as objective facts expressed 

 by nature itself, is essentially necessary to the higher shaping 

 of natural history as a unit," will appear as the revelation 

 of a sublime law of the intellect, its prophetic instincts, and 

 patient searching, under the dread powers which preside 

 over the worlds of matter and mind. 



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