FIELD AND STUDY 



where being slowly pulled down. Where they are 

 being lifted up by the shrinkage of the planet, their 

 surfaces are being constantly worn down by the 

 action of the elements. Mechanical erosion and 

 chemical disintegration play into each other's hands. 

 The sea is only liquid land; all the elements of the 

 soil are in it, held in chemical solution or in mechan- 

 ical suspension. Indeed, many of these elements are 

 in the air also and are captured and used by the air- 

 plants. It is almost certain that what we call empty 

 space is filled with the dust of extinct or of un- 

 created worlds. 



We know our atmosphere is filled with living 

 organisms, as well as with mineral matter. It is only 

 with the mind's eye that we can see the world of 

 elements and activities in which we are immersed. 



The mechanical and the chemical processes that 

 go on all about us — the tearing and wearing, the 

 pulling and transporting, the falling and crushing, 

 then the burnings and explosions, the transforma- 

 tions and dissolutions, the reactions and precipita- 

 tions ! 



Then there is another process which we call vital 

 which is much more mysterious, which utilizes the 

 mechanical and chemical, but is not of them. These 

 two forces worked together through long astronomic 

 and geologic ages without producing living matter, 

 then the time dawned when what we call life ap- 



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