autumnal forecast 



and the organic. Both, under varied conditions, 

 may live or fade or die, and their death may be 

 encompassed by either of the causes, over-excite- 

 ment, over-fatigue, or excessive depression. The 

 world of matter is thus shown not to be swayed 

 by an unknown and mystic force called vitality, 

 but in its stead to be dominated by physical laws 

 which know no change and whose wonderful 

 workings we should make it our duty and interest 

 to try to fathom and understand. What a marvel- 

 ous bridge does this new revelation construct, 

 connecting the inorganic world with the organic, 

 demonstrating further the unity of all nature and 

 the universal, equal, and unfailing operation of its 

 laws ! Would any ordinary person hitherto have 

 thought it possible that a sheet of zinc or copper 

 could feel and respond to stimulating or depress- 

 ing influences, with evidences of excitement, 

 fatigue, and prostration precisely similar to those 

 exhibited by organic matter? The very terms 

 organic and inorganic seem doomed to lose their 

 significance since the sharp dividing line between 

 them has been erased. 



Thus does knowledge, as the result of patient 

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