A FINAL WORD 281 



globe, on which we dwell, is a condensed portion of a 

 nebula. The sun, and the other planets of the solar 

 system, including the asteroids, are the remaining parts 

 of the same nebula. The sun is still condensing, and 

 the heat of it is produced by the arrested motion of 

 the atoms, in process of condensation. All these bodies 

 are composed of essentially the same elements ; and 

 these elements are the chemical combinations of the 

 original centers of energy, in proportions varying, with 

 the nature of the resulting element. After the earth 

 had attained its present outlines, density, temperature, 

 and differentiated its components into what are com- 

 monly called solid, fluid, and gas, that is, into earth, 

 water and air, life began to appear in the lowly forms 

 of vegetation. From this humble beginning, all the 

 forms of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, have been 

 slowly evolved. This evolution has occurred from the 

 comparatively homogeneous, in apparently an unde- 

 signed progression, from the simple to the complex, not 

 in a straight and unswerving upward line, but by 

 rhythm of motion, which seems to be functional, and 

 universal, in all natural phenomena. 



This progressive evolution, of life forms,, is accom- 

 plished by the methods of heredity and variation, fol- 

 lowed by natural selection. These laws operate effec- 

 tively in producing more and more complex organisms, 

 by eliminating the weak, by a process which we call 

 death. That is, by integrating matter into forms, and 

 dissipating it back into its former condition. A 'con- 

 stant alternation of development, by integration of 

 matter, and death by dissipation of it, during which 

 the motion, or function accompanying the two opposite 

 methods, undergoes -the reverse process, has been going 

 on from the formation of the first vegetable cell to the 



