428 SKETCHES OF CUE ATI OX. 



CHAPTER XL. 



THE CYCLES OF MATTE E. 



OF what, now, is this stupendous result the conse- 

 quence ? This is the goal toward which, for millions 

 of ages, the forces of matter have been struggling. During 

 every moment of this long history, gravitation has striven 

 to draw these myriads of worlds together. They have em- 

 braced each other at last, and gravitation has retired to 

 slumber. While yet these worlds were in active life, every 

 sun was a heated globe, dispensing warmth through infinite 

 space ; and every planet may have been the seat of life, 

 enjoying the boundless munificence of heat. As l.ong as 

 heat remained to be dispensed to planetary orbs, they were 

 the seat of all those myriad activities of which solar heat 

 is the origin and source — currents in the atmosphere and 

 in the waters — ascending vapors and descending rains — 

 the nurture of vegetable and animal life and motions — the 

 disintegration of continents, and the strewing of ocean bot- 

 toms with layers of sediments for the upbuilding of new 

 continents. Through numberless interactions of heat, and 

 electricity, and light, and magnetism, and mechanical forces, 

 and chemical affinity, the web of material and organic his- 

 tory was woven. The equilibrium of the heat of our uni- 

 verse has now been attained. Xo farther interactions and 

 transformations can ensue. Every particle of matter is 

 equally cold. Every corner of space is equally dark. The 

 electricities that have been worried with disturbances and 

 divorces innumerable are now firmly locked in each other's 

 embraces. Every chemical element has united with its 



