CHAPTER III 



THE INSUKGENCE OF LIFE 



(THE CIRCUMVENTION OF SPACE AND THE CONQUEST 

 OF TIME) 



* Sbe is tbe onlg artist ; worfcing=up tbe most uniform 

 material into utter opposites ; arriving, witbout a trace of 

 effort, at perfection, at tbe most eract precision, tbougb 

 always veiled unDer a certain softness. . . / 



'Sbe is all tbings. . . . sbe is rougb anD tenDer, lovely 

 anD bateful, powerless anD omnipotent. . . .' 



'Sbe is cunning, but for gooD enos; anD it is best not to 

 notice ber tricks. . . .' 



' Gbe one tbing sbe seems to aim at is SnoiviDualitg ; vet 

 sbe cares notbing for inoiviouals. Sbe is always builoing 

 up anD Destroying; but ber worfcsbop is inaccessible/ 



Goethe's Aphorisms, translated by Huxley. 



Productivity Filling every niche Difficult Conditions Tenacity 

 of Life Plasticity The Biology of the Seasons Migration 

 as an Instance of Insurgence. 



IN many of its familiar expressions life seems to be an 

 extraordinarily delicate form of activity easily 

 disturbed and spoilt and ended. A little quickening of the 

 rate of metabolism, and life's fitful fever is over. A slight 

 lack of harmony in the internal laboratory, and the happy 

 child becomes a cretin. A pin-prick below the thumb- 

 nail when he was planting seedlings and the robust 

 gardener dies of lockjaw. An unusually cold night and two 



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