THE SPIDERS 167 



Now the iron beast, consuming its ration of coal, is really 

 browsing the ancient foliage of arborescent ferns in 

 which solar energy has accumulated. 



Beasts of flesh and blood act no otherwise. Whether 

 they mutually devour one another or levy tribute on the 

 plant, they invariably quicken themselves with the stimu- 

 lant of the sun's heat, a heat stored in grass, fruit, seed 

 and those which feed on such. The sun, the soul of the 

 universe, is the supreme dispenser of energy. 



Instead of being served up through the intermediary 

 of food and passing through the ignominious circuit of 

 gastric chemistry, could not this solar energy penetrate 

 the animal directly and charge it with activity, even as 

 the battery charges an accumulator with power? Why 

 not live on sun, seeing that, after all, we find naught but 

 sun in the fruits which we consume ? 



Chemical science, that bold revolutionary, promises to 

 provide us with synthetic foodstuffs. The laboratory 

 and the factory will take the place of the farm. Why 

 should not physical science step in as well? It would 

 leave the preparation of plastic food to the chemist's re- 

 torts ; it would reserve for itself that of energy-producing 

 food which, reduced to its exact terms, ceases to be mat- 

 ter. With the aid of some ingenious apparatus, it would 

 pump into us our daily ration of solar energy, to be later 

 expended in movement, whereby the machine would be 

 kept going without the often painful assistance of the 

 stomach and its adjuncts. What a delightful world, 

 where one could lunch off a ray of sunshine ! 



Is it a dream, or the anticipation of a remote reality? 



