ON rilK GKNETIC VIKW OF NATURE. 



289 



physiology and agriculture in the school of I.iebig, and 

 the first chapters of meteorology, seemetl to favour the 

 idea that the elements and forces of nature were encracred 

 in cyclic movements wliich return again and again in the 

 same fashion. To the same cyclical view the doctrine of 

 the ti.xity of species, as well as that of the repetition 

 of various creations, lent further support : lunu-e it con- 

 tinued up to the middle of our century ' to be fre- 



' In Germany Mijleschott's 'Kreis- 

 lauf des Lcbens,' a jiopular exposi- 

 tion of the conceptions developed 

 in the second quarter of the century 

 through clieniistry and embryology, 

 represented adetpaately the cyclic 

 conception of life and development 

 in a catcliing phrase. Much later 

 we find — inter multa aim — in 

 Michael Foster's 'Text-book of 

 Physiology ' a concise description 

 of the process in nature which has 

 always served as a type for the 

 cyclic conception : " When the 

 animal kingdom is surveyed from a 

 broad standpoint it becomes obvious 

 that the ovum, or its correlative 

 the spermatozoon, is the goal of an 

 individual existence ; that life is a 

 cycle beginning in an ovum and 

 coming round to an ovum again. 

 . . . The animal body is in reality a 

 vehicle for ova ; and after the life 

 of the parent has become potentially 

 renewed in the offspring, the body 

 remains as a cast-off envelope whose 

 future is but to die." Another 

 example may be found in .Molir"s 

 ' (ieschichte der Erde,' where the 

 circulation of different elements in 

 nature is considered. The concep- 

 tion of periodic cycles has found 

 poetical expression in Riickert's 

 beautiful yujeni, "Chidher," which 

 is evidently the poetical render- 

 ing of an Arabian legend quoted 

 by Lyell (' Principles,' vol. i. p. 

 31):- 



VOL. II. 



"Chidlier, the ever youtliful, spake : 

 I passed a city on my way, 

 A man in a garden fiuit did break, 

 I asked how long tlie town here lay? 

 He spoke, and broke on as before, 

 ' The town sUinds ever on this shore. 

 And will thns stand (or evermore.' 



And wlien five hundred years were gone 



I came the same road as anon, 



Then not a mark of the lowii I met. 



A shepherd on the tlulc did play, 



The ealtle leaf and foliage ate. 



I asked how long is the town away? 



He spake, and i)iped on as before, 



'One plant is green when Uie other's o'er. 



This is my pasture for evermore.' 



And when five hundred years were gone 

 I can)e the same road as anon. 

 Then did I lind with waves a lake, 

 A man the net cast in the bay, 

 And when he paused from his heavy take, 

 I asked since wlien the lake here lay"? 

 He spake, and laughed my question o'er, 

 ' As long as the waves break as of yore 

 One fishes and fishes on this shore.' 



And when five hundred years were gone 

 I came the same way as anon. 

 A wooded place I then did see. 

 And a hermit in a cell did stay ; 

 He felled with an axe a mighty tree. 

 I asked since when the wood here lay? 

 He spake : ' The wood's a shelter for "ever- 

 more, 

 I ever lived upon this lloor. 

 And the trees will grow on as before.' 



And when five hundred years were gone 



I came the same way as anon. 



Hut then I found a city filled 



With markets' clamour shrill and gay. 



I ask<'d how long is the city built, 



Where's wood and sea and shei)herd'splay? 



They pondered not my question o'er 



But cried : ' So was it long before. 



And will go on for evermore.' 



And when five hundred years are gone 



rU go the same way as anon." 



