THE LIVING WAVE 



about must be changed into vital union to be a suc- 

 cess, the spirit of the body has to second our efforts. 

 The same in grafting a tree or anything else: the 

 mechanical union which we effect must become a 

 vital union; and this will not take place without 

 some degree of consanguinity, the live scion must 

 be recognized and adapted by the stock in which we 

 introduce it. 



Living matter may be symbolized by a stream; it 

 is ever and never the same; life is a constant becom- 

 ing; our minds and our bodies are never the same 

 at any two moments of time; life is ceaseless change. 



No doubt it is between the stable and the unstable 

 condition of the molecules of matter that life is born. 

 The static condition to which all things tend is 

 death. Matter in an unstable condition tends either 

 to explode or to grow or to disintegrate. So that 

 an explosion bears some analogy to life, only it is 

 quickly over and the static state of the elements is 

 restored. Life is an infinitely slower explosion, or a 

 prolonged explosion, during which some matter of 

 the organism is being constantly burned up, and 

 thus returned to a state of inorganic repose, while 

 new matter is taken in and kindled and consumed 

 by the fires of life. One can visualize all this and 

 make it tangible to the intellect. Get your fire of 

 life started and all is easy, but how to start it is the 

 rub. Get your explosive compound, and something 

 must break the deadlock of the elements before it 



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