THE TKIUMPH OF LIFE 



of the street which will lie and let itself be roast- 

 ed until its shell is too hot to touch, and thereby 

 becomes so phlegmatic that a wagon wheel can 

 roll over it without causing it to move. And so 

 it was that here and there one of these giants 

 survived through a special development of its 

 sluggishness. These were the ones that were pro- 

 tected by crocodile-like shields of bone. Some of 

 these were dotted over with spurs covering the 

 whole shoulders like a hedgehog, with the ex- 

 ception that these hedgehog quills had here be- 

 come long razor-like swords. Yet another car- 

 ried along a corresponding comb, the teeth of 

 which were not made from its hide, however, 

 but were solid pyramids of bone. No lion-like 

 beast of prey of this time dared to leap upon 

 this comb, since it would have been miserably 

 pierced and sliced by these movable plates when 

 the tail brain should set them moving to and 

 fro. Hence it was without enemies in its sunny 

 laziness ! 



Finally the sun went down. Then came the 

 thick, cool, embracing night. Now, however, 

 the heat of the machine began on the contrary 

 to go out, the temperature of the blood sank to 

 agree with the fall of the thermometer in the 

 air, and once more the mental energies of this 

 hideous machine sank, weak and heavy. 



In our still cave new great truths of life 

 have passed before the magic picture of our ap- 

 120 



