THE VITAL ORDER 



standing four-square like huge foundations — how 

 did all the unguided erosive forces do it? The secret 

 is in the structure of the rock, in the lines of cleav- 

 age, in the unequal hardness, and in the impulsive, 

 irregular, and unequal action of the eroding agents. 

 These agents follow the lines of least resistance; they 

 are active at different times and seasons, and from 

 different directions; they work with infinite slow- 

 ness; they undermine, they disintegrate, they dis- 

 lodge, they transport; the hard streaks resist them, 

 the soft streaks invite them; water charged with 

 sand and gravel saws down; the wind, armed with 

 fine sand, rounds off and hollows out; and thus the 

 sculpturing goes on. But after you have reasoned 

 out all these things, you still marvel at the symmetry 

 and the structural beauty of the forms. They look 

 like the handiwork of barbarian gods. They are 

 the handiwork of physical forces which we can see 

 and measure and in a degree control. But what a 

 gulf separates them from the handiwork of the 

 organic forces ! 



VI 



Some things come and some things arise; things 

 that already exist may come, but potential things 

 arise; my friend comes to visit me, the tide comes 

 up the river, the cold or hot wave comes from the 

 west; but the seasons, night and morning, health 

 and disease, and the like, do not come in this sense; 



229 



