I 81 ;] 



October 10, 1858. The simplest and most lump- 

 ish fungus has a peculiar interest to us, compared 

 with a mere mass of earth, because it is so obviously 

 organic and related to ourselves, however mute. It 

 is the expression of an idea; growth according to a 

 law; matter not dormant, not raw, but inspired, 

 appropriated by spirit. If I take up a handful of 

 earth, however separately interesting the particles 

 may be, their relation to one another appears to be 

 that of mere juxtaposition generally. I might have 

 thrown them together thus. But the humblest fungus 

 betrays a life akin to my own. It is a successful poem 

 in its kind. There is suggested something superior 

 to any particle of matter, in the idea or mind which 

 uses and arranges the particles. 



Journal, xi, 204. 



