72 ^ The Bible of Nature 



nobler than the universe in knowing that he was 

 crushed/ 



Mechanical Categories Suflace. — If we leave out of 

 account, in the meantime, life and all results that 

 can be referred to the hand of life, and consider 

 the history of the inanimate world, either as re- 

 gards its great events or in such details as the mak- 

 ing of a volcanic mountain, the carving of a val- 

 ley, or the formation of a river-system, we find 

 that it is possible to give a more or less probable 

 mechanical account of the various sequences 

 which may have led up to the results we know and 

 admire. Thus the history of the Niagara Gorge 

 and its relation to the Great Lakes, past and pres- 

 ent, has been worked out — up to a certain degree 

 of security — in a most beautiful and convincing 

 manner. From what we know of present physi- 

 cal and chemical processes we can interpret the 

 past with considerable precision — with increasing 

 precision every year. And the general result which 

 we must bear in mind is that mechanical categories 

 suffice. In inanimate nature, science sees a sys- 



^ "Pensees de Pascal/' Chap. II, x. 



"L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, le plus faible de la 

 nature, mais c'est un roseau pensant. II ne faut pas que 

 I'univers entier s'arme pour Tecraser. Une vapeur, une 

 goutte d'eau, suffit pour le tuer. Mais quand Tunivers 

 I'ecraserait, rhomme serait encore plus noble que ce qui 

 le tue, parce qu'il salt qu'il meurt; et Ta vantage que 

 I'univers a sur lui, I'univers n'en sait rien." 



