UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



Over and above our wills and purposes stream the 

 great cosmic currents which we cannot stem, but 

 which, in a measure, we can and do utilize. 



Development is what distinguishes the living 

 from the dead. Friction and collision, warmth and 

 moisture, do not develop the pebbles on the beach. 



A variation proves advantageous only to some- 

 thing growing, expanding, and seeking advantages 

 and capable of profiting by them. The tendency of 

 the action of outward physical forces upon a body 

 is to produce uniformity, and if living bodies were 

 shaped by these forces alone they would all be alike. 

 If there was not something in every living form that 

 was sui generis, they would all be alike. 



The slight variations in the forms of living things 

 are doubtless the result of outward chance occur- 

 rences. In passing from the purely mechanical to 

 the vital, we seem to enter a realm where the dice 

 are loaded, chance still plays a part, but a secondary 

 part. The perfect apple on the tree has escaped 

 many mishaps of wind and storm and hostile insect 

 and germ, but it is not a matter of chance that it is 

 an apple, and that it is sweet or sour, red or green, 

 round or flat. That variety of apple is always thus 

 with possible modifications. Soil, climate, exposure, 

 culture, all have their influence. 



In all marriages and social relations chance plays 

 a part — a chance meeting, an auspicious moment; 

 but sex and the social instinct are not a matter of 



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