454 BIOLOGY. 



cease, and with them the tension. The muscles relax 

 upon every movement, and rest necessarily follows in the 

 manner above delineated. With to-morrow's morn the 

 world again acts until evening upon the germ ; it wakes 

 up, and the same course of events happens as on the first 

 day. Finally the substance becomes organized according 

 to this periodicity ; it becomes, forsooth, not more ener- 

 getic than is necessary in order to admit or receive a 

 charge of one day ; towards evening it is exhausted, is 

 neutral, and rejoices with the relaxation of the muscles, 

 that the world no longer acts upon its frame. 



2762. Thus, we may attribute this phenomenon both to 

 custom and synchronous formation; nevertheless one ought 

 not to forget that the organic formation is a metatype, or 

 has been imitated from something that has gone before, 

 and that consequently the law of periodicity has not been 

 bestowed upon both at the same time, but first of all 

 unto nature, and through this to the body, which is its 

 image or likeness. 



2763. The nervous periodicity ranges in accordance 

 with the periodicity of the light, or is thus parallel with 

 its archetype, and consequently with the day and night. 

 Day is the waking, night the sleeping of nature. But 

 the animal has originated in and by this alternating 

 change of nature. It is spiritually, as well as corporeally, 

 nature's likeness. 



2764. The sexual function in a perfect animal, as in 

 Man, has been adapted to the periods of the year ; in 

 other animals other natural periods exert their sway. 

 Animals are commonly pregnant by the month, e. g. for 

 one, two, four, five months, &c. The human species 

 requires three quarters of a year for pregnancy, one 

 quarter for giving suck to the babe, and then it can 

 again conceive. Pregnancy thus lasts a year, and has 

 been based in the sun. 



2765. If the female does not become pregnant, the 

 sexual passion, or instinct, is repeated at the expiration of 

 a month. It sleeps about one month, and then awakes 

 for some days. The periodicity may be divided into 

 vegetative and animal, thus, 



