THE BREATH OF LIFE 



necessary to our well-being. "Our eye takes in only 

 an octave of the vibrations we call light," because 

 no more is necessary for our action or our dealing 

 with things. The invisible rays of the spectrum are 

 potent, but they are beyond the ken of our senses. 

 There are sounds or sound vibrations that we do not 

 hear; our sense of touch cannot recognize a gossamer, 

 or the gentler air movements. 



I began with the contemplation of the beauty and 

 terror of the thunderbolt — "God's autograph," as 

 one of our poets (Joel Benton) said, "written upon 

 the sky." Let me end with an allusion to another 

 aspect of the storm that has no terror in it — the 

 bow in the clouds: a sudden apparition, a cosmic 

 phenomenon no less wonderful and startling than 

 the lightning's flash. The storm with terror and 

 threatened destruction on one side of it, and peace 

 and promise on the other ! The bow appears like a 

 miracle, but it is a commonplace of nature; unstable 

 as life, and beautiful as youth. The raindrops are 

 not changed, the light is not changed, the laws of 

 the storms are not changed; and yet, behold this 

 wonder ! 



But all these strange and beautiful phenomena 

 springing up in a world of inert matter are but faint 

 symbols of the mystery and the miracle of the 

 change of matter from the non-living to the living, 

 from the elements in the clod to the same elements 

 in the brain and heart of man. 



