CHAPTER III 



THE INSURGENCE OF LIFE 



(THE CIRCUMVENTION OF SPACE AND THE CONQUEST 

 or TIME) 



' Sbe is tbe onlg artist ; worfcing=up tbe most uniform 

 material into utter opposites ; arriving, without a trace of 

 effort, at perfection, at tbe most ejact precision, tbougb 

 always veileo unDer a certain softness. . . .' 



'Sbe is all tbings. . . . sbe is rougb ano tenoer, lovely 

 ano bateful, powerless ano omnipotent. . . / 



'Sbe is cunning, but for gooo enos; ano it is best not to 

 notice ber trtcfcs. . . / 



4 &be one tbing sbe seems to aim at is 5noi\>tDualitg ; vet 

 sbe cares notbing for inDfviouals. Sbe is always builofng 

 up ano Destroying; but ber worfcsbop is inaccessible.' 



Goethe's Aphorisms, translated by Huxley. 



Productivity Filling every niche Difficult Conditions Tenacity 

 of Life Plasticity The Biology of the Seasons Migration 

 as an Instance of Insurgence. 



IN many of its familiar expressions life seems to be an 

 extraordinarily delicate form of activity easily 

 disturbed and spoilt and ended. A little quickening of the 

 rate of metabolism, and life's fitful fever is over. A slight 

 lack of harmony in the internal laboratory, and the happy 

 child becomes a cretin. A pin-prick below the thumb- 

 nail when he was planting seedlings and the robust 

 gardener dies of lockjaw. An unusually cold night and two 

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