380 THE BIOCOSMOS PARTICULARIZED. 



be a cosmic supply. But here the question 

 will arise: Is our globe always receiving and 

 not giving off anything? And are comets, 

 meteorites, cosmic dust and such interplan- 

 etary bodies simply feeders of our hungry 

 Earth? If so, then it must be increasing in 

 size for the future. 



On the other hand, danger has been feared 

 from these outside wanderers. The comet 

 may be dismissed in spite of its threatening 

 aspect, but not so easy is the meteorite to be 

 put aside, which may drop upon us without 

 much warning. Meteoric masses weighing 

 some tons are known ; but if such a body were 

 a mile in thickness, and were to fall on a city, 

 this would be suddenly destroyed. A scien- 

 tist of eminence has declared that a meteorite 

 with a diameter of twenty miles, ''would 

 pretty surely be fatal to all the land-life of 

 the earth." A possible collision with an 

 asteroid has been broached, especially with 

 one whose very eccentric, if not uncertain, 

 orbit, runs between the Earth and Mars. 



This differentiation of the Earth's Organ- 

 ism is what furnishes food to all Life, vegetal 

 and anima.1. Also to the Earth's own Life 

 air, water, and land are necessary. Thus con- 

 sidered as a whole the Earth is self-feeding, 

 unless it receives some aliment continuously 

 from the Cosmos outside, On the other hand, 



