THE UNIVERSAL STRIFE 5 



so small we cannot see them without artificial 

 help, we combat fatal disease ; and another 

 minute slave is responsible for the incalculable 

 effects of fermentation. With others, again, we 

 are answering successfully the vital question of 

 sewerage. From what seemed at one time mere 

 profitless observation of Nature man has gleaned 

 ideas which have yielded the triumphs of steam 

 and electricity, and in the organic world watch- 

 fulness and thought have infinitely enriched us 

 with endless variety and with profit. Compara- 

 tively few of us, however, seem to have the 

 leisure, and fewer still the wish, to make any 

 sort of investigation of the things of Nature, or 

 even to notice what transpires in the world 

 around us. 



And no wonder ! For even the briefest glance 

 into that animate world, at almost any time of 

 year, is sure to reveal some scene of tragedy, 

 cruelty, horror ; and the inanimate world is an 

 endless record of shattering and grinding and 

 distortion. The mind which has attained to 

 kindliness is shocked by this revelation, and 

 would fain discover some calm retreat. But in 



