LIGHT AND LIFE. 
THE organized being that we observe on the surface of 
the globe does not subsist solely by the nourishment ab- 
sorbed, sometimes in the form of aliment, sometimes in that 
of atmospheric air; it needs, besides, heat, electricity, and 
light, which are like a secret and life-giving spring for the 
world. Its organs are subject to tiie twofold influence of 
an inner medium, represented by the humors moistening its 
' tissues, and of an outer medium, composed of all those sub- 
tile and fluid agents with which space is filled. This close 
interdependence of beings and of the media in which they 
are immersed, too plain to have quite escaped notice, yet 
too complex for analysis by science in its infancy, has been 
brought in our day under piercing and methodical investi- 
gation, yielding results of remarkable interest. Light es- 
pecially takes a part in this combination deserving deep 
study. Whether organic existence in its simplest expres- 
sion and its lowest degree be considered, or whether we re- 
gard it in its highest functions, the influence of light upon 
it strikes us in the most strange and unlooked-for relations. 
Lovely forms and vivid colors, the hidden harmonies of life » 
as well as its dazzling brightness and bloom, alike claim 
mysterious connection with that golden mist diffused by 
the sun over the world. 
From this point of view, modern science finds reason in 
the simple worship paid by primitive man. It helps us to 
understand the divine honors given to the star of day 
