COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



that all organic matter is permeated by water. 

 Hence, while sufficiently solid to preserve their 

 continuity of structure, organic bodies are suffi- 

 ciently plastic to allow of much internal rear- 

 rangement. 



If we had time, it would be interesting to go 

 on and trace the facts just enumerated through 

 many complex exemplifications, and we might 

 comment at length upon the significance of the 

 facts that certain animals, as the Rotifera, lose 

 their vitality when dried and regain it when 

 wetted ; that vital activity everywhere demands 

 a supply of heat, and that the most complex 

 organisms are in general the warmest ; that ani- 

 mals contain more nitrogen than plants, and are 

 at the same time more highly evolved ; that 

 carnivorous animals are relatively stronger and 

 more active than herbivorous animals ; that the 

 parts of animals which are the seats of the high- 

 est vitality are mainly nitrogenous, while the 

 more inert parts are mainly carbonaceous ; that 

 the highly nitrogenous matter composing the 

 nervous system is nevertheless — as if to pre- 

 serve the balance — always accompanied by 

 inert carbonaceous fat ; and that, while a nitro- 

 genous diet renders possible the greatest quan- 

 tity of physical and mental activity, at the same 

 time carbonaceous alcohol retards the waste of 

 nervous tissue. 



But even without entering upon such a 

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