172 On the Campus 



conditions of level by which the plants occupy the king- 

 dom of the upper air; all conditions of spore-union by 

 which they meet at length the problem of aerial fertiliza- 

 tion ; so that while sports there may be among plants out- 

 side the pale of civilization, nevertheless they must al- 

 ways be within limits set as result of more gentle changes 

 effected by the slow, and, for the most part, exquisitely 

 delicate transformations which make up the history of 

 the planet. Given a desert flora, a cactus flora, for in- 

 stance, and there may be endless species-making, by sport 

 if you will, or otherwise, but in every case a cactus ; but 

 the cactus itself is the child of continental movements 

 which brought about some old-time, perhaps cretaceous 

 desert. 



Our desert lies shining here before us; it is old and 

 silent : would you know its secret, read the rocky records 

 that lie behind, around, beneath, and be assured that once 

 the story of yesterday were understood the facts of to- 

 day would ask no greater explanation. The physical 

 forces of this world still drive the loom that weaves the 

 web of life. Before the loom the unseen weaver sits, 

 guiding her web that passes to an endless roll, changing 

 withal the width, the pattern, as conditions rise. Changes 

 her arabesque, it is for cause; changes it not, it is alike 

 for cause; and if at intervals as we watch, anon new 

 figures rise, may it not be but the return of some earlier 

 triumphant cycle that here begins anew, evident enough 

 in cause and feature were once that giant scroll unrolled, 

 or were her watchers more patient, more enduring. Alas, 

 in presence of that mighty loom what fleeting, evanescent 

 interpreters are we ! 



