LIFE THE RESTORER. 275 



were to be divided into countless millions of drops, 

 each of them would be just as much a whole as 

 the entire contents of the pond, and as perfectly 

 water as the ocean. It is the same with all the 

 metals, stones, earths, and other substances which 

 obey no laws, but those which, to some extent or 

 other, we regard as common to all matter. But 

 there are also peculiar laws, which act in opposi- 

 tion to the common laws of matter, and within 

 the sphere of their action overcome them, at least 

 for a time. 



These are the laws of that mysterious relation 

 which we call LIFE ; and which, though we never 

 can tell what it is in itself, or how it and the general 

 properties of matter act and react upon each other, 

 yet furnishes by far the greater part of the useful- 

 ness and pleasure of nature before us. 



Fanciful men, who have lost sight of facts, 

 have sometimes supposed and said that there is a 

 regular gradation through all the productions of 

 nature, from the simplest substance up to man, 

 and even higher ; and these have been called the 

 gradations of nature toward perfection, and held 

 up as especially worthy of our admiration. But, 

 in truth, we observe no such gradation ; and we 

 ought never to know any more about nature than 

 we can observe. There are differences, and very 

 great differences of appearance ; but still we are 

 not warranted in saying that one production of 

 nature is more perfect than another. When we 

 have any purpose of our own to serve, we may 

 find that one thing more perfectly answers our 

 purpose than another does, and we may say so ; 

 but when we put our own purpose, and use to us, 

 out of the consideration, and come to speak of 



