ANIMAL LIFE FORMATION. 279 



manifesting therein a deathless element. Ac- 

 cordingly the Biocosmos must show these 

 three processes of Animal-life in some detail. 



I. THE FOKMATIVE PROCESS OF ANIMAL 

 LIFE. As we are here at the start ushered 

 into the presence of Form, we ask whence 

 comes such shaping power? The question 

 carries us back to the primordial individua- 

 tion of the Life-stuff (Protobiotieon), when 

 the earliest living Form must have appeared 

 on our planet. We have often noted how Na- 

 ture, being the absolutely separated stage of 

 the Absolute, carries out to the last degree 

 of fineness her principle of separation, which 

 is verily her deepest creative character. Such 

 is the ultimate ground of individuation in the 

 widest sense, inorganic as well as organic, 

 and it is this individuation of Nature which 

 gives Form, finally the animal Form, which 

 still further culminates in the human Form. 



That which first catches the eye is the 

 Form of the animal, and this is what charac- 

 terizes it externally, and puts it within cer- 

 tain limits or outlines not to be essentially 

 changed. Every species has its basic Form, 

 into which each individual of it falls, taking 

 possession of it naturally, in his own right. 

 Undoubtedly this Form varies, no two indi- 

 viduals of the same species are alike; then 

 also there are abnormal variations, mon- 



