THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



fled in ignorant terror before the Lightning. We 

 travel with its aid, thoughtless, through the 

 streets of our great cities and laugh when at 

 the stopping of the electric car the blue sparks 

 fly. Just so the man of Pompeii and Martin- 

 ique fled in deadly horror before the fiery blasts 

 of the volcano. May not the volcano become 

 some time our stove, our trusty hearth fire which 

 we will control as man now controls the electric 

 car ? 



Then I think once more of life as it wanders 

 in the bottom of the deep sea, as it rises out of 

 the water, as it climbs upon the mountain and 

 into the air. Upon the highest mountain cliff 

 it hangs as a mere speck where a fungus and 

 alga* cling together in close community with 

 brotherly co-operation and are thus able to re- 

 sist the wild elements, but higher yet than this 

 cliff* swings the bird of prey, and over him yet 

 rises the balloon containing men with their 

 scientific instruments. And now this conquest 

 has proceeded down to the deep sea. Equipped 

 with apparatus to meet the increasing pressure 

 the existing deep sea animals of the ocean are 

 able to meet the altered conditions under the 

 pressure of nine hundred atmospheres. The 



*Thc author refers here to lichens which are made up of a 

 fungus associated with an alga. This is spoken of in the text 

 as a relation comparable to "brotherly co-operation." Other 

 authors characterize it as an example oi slavery, the algai cells 

 being in a condition of bondage to the fungus, tne latter deriving 

 all the benefits arising from the association. — Trans. 



151 



