182 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



that if the sun were extinguished and all the gases 

 of our atmosphere disappeared, seeds and germs, 

 eggs and spores of organisms, in the state of latent 

 life, might linger on for a long time on the surface 

 of the " frozen, uninhabitable planet, wandering 

 in the darkness of cosmic space." It is possible 

 that under the influence of the radiations of a new 

 system the frozen streams of protoplasm might 

 thaw and flow again ; it is possible that a shattering 

 of the derelict by collision or explosion might sow 

 new worlds with the seeds of old life. 



