COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



rearrange its molecules in more complex clus- 

 ters, in which the tremendous chemical energy 

 of heat-saturated nitrogen is held in equilibrium 

 by the aid of these metamorphosed sunbeams. 

 Man, assimilating the nitrogenous tissues of the 

 cow, builds up these clusters of molecules, with 

 their stores of sun-given and sun-restrained en- 

 ergy, into the wondrously complex elements 

 of white and gray nerve-tissue, which, inces- 

 santly liberating energy in decomposition, mys- 

 teriously enable him to trace and describe a 

 portion of the astonishing metamorphosis. 



When one takes a country ramble on a plea- 

 sant summer's day, one may fitly ponder upon 

 the wondrous significance of this law of the 

 transformation of energy. It is wondrous to re- 

 flect that all the energy stored up in the timbers 

 of the fences and farmhouses which we pass, as 

 well as in the grindstone and the axe lying be- 

 side it, and in the iron axles and heavy tires of 

 the cart which stands tipped by the roadside ; 

 all the energy from moment to moment given 

 out by the roaring cascade and the busy wheel 

 that rumbles at its foot, by the undulating stalks 

 of corn in the field and the swaying branches in 

 the forest beyond, by the birds that sing in the 

 treetops and the butterflies to which they anon 

 give chase, by the cow standing in the brook and 

 the water which bathes her lazy feet, by the 

 sportsmen who pass shouting in the distance as 

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