ALONG THE SALT MARSHES 155 



in vain. Some day some one of them, wiser than 

 the rest, will distil its potency from the cool salt 

 of sea tides, and humanity, poor hitherto, will 

 find itself rich in possibilities of physical immor- 

 tality. Sea captains have a foolish custom of 

 settling down at eighty to enjoy life on shore, 

 else there is no knowing how long they would 

 live. They have breathed the aroma of this life- 

 giving essence all their lives. 



Yet the sea itself is dead ; it is a vast accumula- 

 tion of the product of complete combustion, hy- 

 drogen burnt out. But just as dead worlds, 

 which are the molecules of infinite space, shock- 

 ing together, burst into spiral nebulae of flame 

 which are the beginnings of live suns and planets 

 and all luxuriant life thereon, so it seems as if 

 the atoms of sea water, ever rushing to restless 

 collision, burst continually into renewed life. 

 All forms are in it, from the mightiest mammals 

 to the protozoa which the microscope suspects 

 rather than surely discovers. Every time mole- 

 cule touches molecule in the depths, a new spark 

 of tiny life must flare up, else never so many 

 could inhabit the water. The coarser aggrega- 

 tions of these we see in bewildering profusion 

 and variety every time the tides fall back and 



