338 MATERIAL BESOUBGES OF LIFE. 



constituents, as, in a familiar example, water is distinct from the hydrogen 

 and oxygen of which it is composed. The number of these chemical com- 

 pounds built into living tissues is very great, a number uncounted. It is 

 of these compound substances — of their molecules— that the cells are 

 builded; builded by an action very unlike chemical action and into shapes 

 very unlike chemical results. Also, it is by the consumption of these com- 

 pounds of the fourteen elements that animal warmth and activity are sus- 

 tained. But, not turning aside here to question the chemistry (the making 

 of molecules) going on in cells, or the vital organization (the building to- 

 gether of molecules) going on in cells, not once lifting our eyes toward any 

 of the dynamical sources of life, we bcLd our attention to find out, if we 

 can, the raw material for cells, the inorganic resources of the organic 



world. 



It is the organic world together, to be sure, that is able to subsist on the 

 fourteen elements as these are given by the earth, the animal kingdom ob- 

 tainino- most of its material at second hand, as elaborated by the vegetable. 

 The two kingdoms are, in the end, mutually dependent on each other in 

 gaining sustenance from the earth's supplies. 



The fourteen indispensable simples may be classified, in different ways 

 for different ends. There is a privilege of provisional classification, for 

 the sake of comparison and of acquaintance; and, with the promise not to 

 imDOse our arrangement upon any other occasion, we would like, for the 

 purpose of our present quest, to divide the elemental resources of life into 

 two categories, as follows: 1. Those supplied so abundantly on the earth 

 that all individuals share them alike, without favor of fortune or fore- 

 thought of mind. We may name them redundant resources. 2. Those 

 provided so sparingly that individuals do not share them alike, but secure 

 them by effort and by opportunity. They may be termed adequate re- 

 sources. 



From the provision of the first class of materials, it results that, in cer- 

 tain great essentials of organization, all individuals are placed on a footing 

 of equality with their fellows. It results from the provision of the second 

 class of materials, that unequal qualities and quantities of organization are 

 derived by different individuals of the same species. Through our redun- 

 dant resources w^e are taught the common brotherhood of the created. 

 Through our adequate resources come the assurances of our responsibility 

 our commissions as stewards of the earth. Materials given in a super- 

 abundance that cannot be wasted constitute a dispensation of mercy; its 

 benefits falling alike on the just and on the unjust, the lazy and the dili- 

 o-ent, the foolish and the prudent. Materials given in a competence that 

 must be guarded constitute a dispensation of compensation; inciting to ex- 

 ertion, rewarding for attainment, and training the powers of volition. By 

 the first, the democracy of equal privileges and inalienable possessions is 

 maintained ; by the second, the aristocracy of merit is preserved. 



The redundant resources so abound that they can have no value, in the 



