Lif] AND SYMBOLS. 197 



not say they were dead ; they were organic seeds, products of 

 life, and had themselves once lived ; they were developed from 

 cells into seeds, and at this point in their development their 

 vital activity was arrested, because the necessary heat, light, 

 and soil were wanting ; but no sooner were these supplied, than 

 the arrested activity was once more set free, the seed became a 

 plant. The microscopic animals known as rotifers become to 

 all appearance dead when the water of the moss in which they 

 live is evaporated, and in this state of suspended animation 

 they may remain for years, recovering their energy on the 

 addition of a little water; they may be dried and revived 

 fifteen times in succession ; but they are not dead in these cases, 

 and they do not decompose. Frogs and toads, especially the 

 latter, when subjected to the action of intense cold, may be 

 perfectly frozen, all their fluids becoming congealed, all their 

 tissues rigid. Yet these animals are not dead. Let heat be 

 cautiously applied, and the congelation ceases : in eight minutes 

 life is once more in full activity. PH. 



Life Preserved by Struggling 1 . 



You lament that your life is one constant struggle; that, 

 having obtained what you tried hard to secure, your whole 

 strength is now required in order to retain it ; and that your 

 necessities impose on you the further obligation of additional 

 exertions. It is so ; but do not repine. As a rule, the main- 

 tenance of life is everywhere conditional on struggling. It is 

 not only so with men and animals. It is so even in the vege- 

 table world. You struggle with obstacles ; but the very trees 

 have to do the same. Observe them; take heart and grow 

 strong. M. Louis Figuier says that the manner in which roots 

 succeed in overcoming obstacles has always been a subject of 

 surprise to the observer. The roots of trees and shrubs, when 

 cramped or hindered in their progress, have been observed to 

 exhibit considerable mechanical force, throwing down walls or 

 splitting rocks, and in other cases clinging together in bunches 

 or spreading out their fibres over a prodigious space, in order to 

 follow the course of a rivulet with its friendly moisture. Who 

 has not seen with admiration how roots will adapt themselves to 



