THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



Now then: in this picture we have in fact 

 touched on a new world, an entirely new "some 

 thing" of the planet : — life. 



This sea illumination is not cosmic light in 

 its former sense. It is not reflected star light, — 

 or electrical or magnetic light, not lightning or 

 the northern lights, the last glow of an ex- 

 tinguished planet, neither does the water shine 

 phosphorescently from its own elements. It is a 

 manifestation of life and a colossal one at that. 



For miles the whole surface of the water 

 sparkles and glimmers in a victorious protest 

 against the astronomical night. The milky way 

 of the heavens stands opposite to the milky way 

 of life. As yonder enormous suns separated by 

 millions of miles of space viewed perspectively 

 blend together to a mild glistening nebula, 

 so here are myriads of microscopically tiny liv- 

 ing beings, that one would not perceive at a 

 glance on account of their tiny size, but in con- 

 sequence of their inexpressible numbers, they 

 also blend together in the field of vision into a 

 diffused general light. 



Everyone of these beings emits a fine ray — it 

 shines. It shines with its own body substance, 

 its mysterious gelatinous soft, protoplasmic 

 body. This body appears in the simplest form. 

 The bearers of these sea lights are absolutely 

 primitive forms of the lowest conceivable kind. 

 Life itself appears in them in an obscure incip- 

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