HI ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE 131 



so widely spread is the conception of life as a 

 something which works through matter, but is 

 independent of it ; and even those who are aware 

 that matter and life are inseparably connected, 

 may not be prepared for the conclusion plainly 

 suggested by the phrase, "the physical basis or 

 matter of life," that there is some one kind of 

 matter which is common to all living beings, and 

 that their endless diversities are bound together 



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by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, 

 when first apprehended, such a doctrine as this 

 appears almost shocking to common sense. 



What, truly, can seem to be more obviously 

 different from one another, in faculty, in form, and 

 in substance, than the various kinds of living 

 beings ? What community of faculty can there 

 be between the brightly-coloured lichen, which so 

 nearly resembles a mere mineral incrustation of 

 the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, 

 to whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, 

 whom it feeds with knowledge ? 



Again, think of the microscopic fungus a mere 

 infinitesimal ovoid particle, which finds space and 

 duration enough to multiply into countless millions 

 in the body of a living fly ; and then of the wealth 

 of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, 

 which lies between this bald sketch of a plant and 

 the giant pine of California, towering to the 

 dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, 

 which covers acres with its profound shadow, and 



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