102 DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 



was as poor in energy as the conditions 

 at the time permitted. 



If we now especially give our atten- 

 tion to the combustion taking place in 

 chemical processes, this era may also 

 be called the period of combustion or 

 the general world-fire, names which are 

 exact even if we use combustion in the 

 common, limited sense of oxidation. 

 Oxygen is considered to constitute 

 about one-half of the solid crust of the 

 earth, and when to this quantitative 

 preponderance is added its extraordi- 

 narily strong affinity to other elements, 

 these must with necessity burn into 

 oxides just as has been the case. 



It is therefore with the products of 

 combustion, that is to say, the ashes and 

 the remains from a general colossal 

 world-fire, that the earth enters its 

 planetary state, at which stage it be- 

 comes suitable for the creation and 

 evolution of living beings. It is from 

 burnt substances that the organisms 

 must form the combustible matter that 

 constitutes their material clothing. 



