44 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO u. 



When Time's cold hands the languid senses seize, 

 Chill the dull nerves, the lingering currents freeze; 

 Organic matter, unreclaim'd by Life, 

 Reverts to elements by chemic strife. 

 Thus Heat evolv'd from some fermenting mass 

 Expands the kindling atoms into gas; 1O 



Which sink ere long in cold concentric rings, 

 Condensed, on Gravity's descending wings. 



" But REPRODUCTION with ethereal fires 

 New Life rekindles, ere the first expires; 

 Calls up renascent Youth, ere tottering age 

 Quits the dull scene, and gives him to the stage; 

 Bids on his cheek the rose of beauty blow, 

 And binds the wreaths of pleasure round his brow; 

 With finer links the vital chain extends, 

 And the long line of Being never ends, 20 



by others, except the young broods, who were defended by their 

 mother; and hence the animal world existed uniformly in its greatest 

 strength and perfection; see Additional Note VII. 

 But Reproduction, 1. 13. See Additional Note VIII. 



