CYCLIC ACTIVITIES OF LIFE 245 



is generally slower in organic forms of kinetic 

 energy than in inorganic forms. As a result 

 the phasic discharges become more obvious 

 to the senses, and there is nothing more 

 beautiful than to watch the swing to and fro 

 in measured rhythm of the various life- 

 processes. As long as life lasts there is no 

 complete cessation in the flow of energy, but 

 always in all living things there are alternating 

 periods of activity and repose, of waking and 

 sleeping, of action and reaction, of freshness 

 and fatigue. 



Another important point is that in these 

 slower surgings of the life-process, the short 

 simple cycle of inorganic nature is often 

 replaced by a long procession or sequence of 

 events in definite order, and with many 

 members such as is never seen in absence 

 of life. The development of man, or a higher 

 mammal, from the ovum is one example ; the 

 ordered sequence of the outburst of seasonal 

 life in the cycle of the year is another ; and 

 countless examples of such lengthy cycles 

 where one energy exchange is contingent 

 upon and sequent in time to another, occur 

 in the daily lives of higher plant and animal 

 individuals. 



Although the cyclic processes of life demon- 

 strate a longer time-interval throughout, as 



