24 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



in a new light and to have added something to it, 

 but by no means to have unravelled it. During 

 our sojourn in this strange land, as Marcus Aurelius 

 described life, only one side of Nature is open to our 

 minds. We live, so to speak, in three dimensions, 

 although there may be countless more. Not, indeed, 

 until the veil of Isis has been lifted from our eyes 

 shall it be ours to realise the meaning of the 

 harmony of the things we live in ; and of the 

 beauty of the things we see. 



The ultimate problem may remain unsolved, and the 

 question ; " whence have we come and whither are we 

 going ? " still continue to be asked again and again 

 by thinking minds, as often as it had been asked 

 before. The mind of Plato was as near the solu- 

 tion of the problem as the clearest minds of to-day. 

 And with Tyndall the thought may perhaps be 

 expressed that this great question will be considered 

 by the noblest minds though probably with equal 

 ineffectiveness, when, as with him, " like streaks of 

 morning cloud," we too shall have melted into " the 

 infinite azure of the past." 



