THE NATURALIST'S VIEW OF LIFE 



physical. And this is what science has always been 

 doing and is doing more and more — making us 

 familiar with marvelous and transcendent powers 

 that hedge us about and enter into every act of our 

 lives. The more we know matter, the more we know 

 mind; the more we know nature, the more we know 

 God; the more familiar we are with the earth forces, 

 the more intimate will be our acquaintance with 

 the celestial forces. 



When we speak of the gulf that separates the liv- 

 ing from the non-living, are we not thinking of the 

 higher forms of life only? Are we not thinking of 

 the far cry it is from man to inorganic nature? 

 When we get down to the lowest organism, is the 

 gulf so impressive? Under the scrutiny of biologic 

 science the gulf that separates the animal from the 

 vegetable all but vanishes, and the two seem to run 

 together. The chasm between the lowest vegetable 

 forms and unorganized matter is evidently a slight 

 affair. The state of unorganized protoplasm which 

 Haeckel named the Monera, that precedes the devel- 

 opment of that architect of life, the cell, can hardly 

 be more than one remove from inert matter. By 

 insensible molecular changes and transformations 

 of energy, the miracle of living matter takes place. 

 We can conceive of life arising only through these 

 minute avenues, or in the invisible, molecular con- 



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