372 THE BIOC08MOS PARTICULARIZED. 



only in order to be born but to continue exist- 

 ence. It looks as if there might have been 

 barely one species at the start, which showed 

 no differentiation of Plant and Animal; but 

 the tendency of Nature to separation and 

 individuation has resulted in the present mil- 

 lions of species, constituting as far as we 

 know, the only living speck in the physical 

 universe. Yet to bring forth this speck of 

 Earth-life would seem to be the great pur- 

 pose of the Cosmos, which is possibly yet to 

 be vitalized from this speck quite invisible 

 (humanly speaking) at a short distance from 

 the surface of our globe. 



Earth-life, accordingly, we conceive to con- 

 tain the elemental start or Life-stuff of the 

 planet, then the sum total of all individuals 

 which are alive on the Earth. Each of the 

 latter passes through its cycle and returns to 

 its origin as inorganic, perpetuating its Life 

 by the generative process. Earth-life, while 

 ever revolving, is also evolving and has long 

 been evolving so that it has its history. But 

 within human ken it has no association with 

 other living individuals of like kind; it is its 

 own species and genus as well as individual. 



Many sciences have been unfolded out of 

 Earth-life in its various aspects. Here, how- 

 ever, we shall co-ordinate its general process 

 with that of Plant-life and Animal-life; thus 



